


The 100 Arrival Day

by ThaliaGrace318



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Battle for leadership, Bellamy has another sister, Bellamy is challenged, F/F, F/M, Grounder Culture, Marcus Kane's daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 09:18:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18385520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThaliaGrace318/pseuds/ThaliaGrace318
Summary: 100 prisoners sent on a desperate mission to the ground. Among them are Thalia Grace, at the top of the prison pack, she clashes with the new guy Bellamy as he tries to take over. Emily Kane, daughter of the Vice Chancellor, hated by others for her family name that she herself detests. Iris Glass, too sweet to survive or stronger than she looks.





	The 100 Arrival Day

**The 100 - Arrival Day**

##  Chapter 1 – Prisoners of the Ark

_I fe_ _el the sun on my face. I see trees all around me, the scent of wildflowers on a breeze. It’s so beautiful. In this moment, I’m not stranded in space._

_It’s been 97 years since a nuclear apocalypse killed everyone on Earth, leaving the planet simmering in radiation. Fortunately, there were survivors. Twelve nations had operational space stations at the time of the bombs. There is now only the Ark, one station forged from the many._

_We’re told that the Earth needs another 100 years to become survivable again; four more space-locked generations and man can go home, back to the ground. The ground, that’s the dream. This is reality. Reality sucks!_

_  
_

_On the Ark any crime, no matter how small, is punishable by death, unless you’re under 18. Juvenile offenders are confined, put in lock-up. Prison Station – we call it the Skybox._

* * *

 

Within the Skybox, in a sparse two-person cell, the only sound that could be heard was the scratching of a piece of charcoal against the floor. A girl sat between the two bunks in the room, all her attention on the image she was creating. The scene was of someone standing among trees looking up at the night sky. Clarke Griffin was absorbed in her art, wondering what the sky really looked like from the ground, if her image was close to the real thing. Her cellmate, Thalia Grace, looked over from where she was laying on her bunk to see what Clarke had drawn this time.

“Pretty,” she said. “You better be careful though. We’re running out of wall space.” Then she went back to staring at the stars through the skylight in the roof.

Clarke gave a small smile at Thalia’s sarcasm, as though running out of things to draw on was their biggest concern. It was true though, the walls and floor of their cell were covered in Clark’s drawings, sketches of plants, animals, old buildings. Thalia appreciated Clarke’s talent, especially as it gave her something to look at other than the blank cell walls. To Thalia the worst part about being in lock-up was the amount of shear boredom. Aside from basic schooling, meal time and the meager amount of time that they were allowed for recreation, they were stuck in their cells. Thalia sometimes amused herself by throwing small pieces of metal that she fashioned into darts at a target on their cell door. After years of practice, she never missed.

Thalia had been put in the Skybox when she was nine years old, and in the eight and a half years since then had often wondered if she could die of boredom or sensory deprivation, and if that wouldn’t be better than waiting to be executed when she turned 18, which wasn’t too far away now.

 _Not too far away for Clarke either_ , she thought. The two girls had lived lives as different as they could be on the Ark, but they had known each other before Clarke was confined a year ago. Clarke’s mother was the Ark’s Chief Medical Officer and Thalia’s doctor when she had spent two years in and out of the hospital for an immune deficiency starting when she was five.

She still saw Dr. Griffin from time to time when bouts of weakness or sickness came up. Medical had the medication that could make her better, but she had not been allowed any of it aside from the most common since she had been confined. The medicine was saved for the law-abiding citizens, while Thalia had to get by on diet and exercise prescribed by Dr. Griffin, along with a few synthetic vitamins, to keep her healthy.

The few times that Thalia has met with Dr. Griffin in the last few years had been much like what she remembered from her childhood. Dr. Griffin was kind but firm and also sincere, unlike so many other people at her level. Clarke took after her mother, not just in looks, but in demeanor; she was focused, kind and plainly honest, and she also had her mother’s talent for healing people, making them better. When Thalia had had to stay in the hospital for weeks at a time when she was a child she often saw Clarke trailing after her mother, watching and learning from her. When they ended up sharing a cell Thalia learned that Clarke had started training as a doctor as well.

Thalia was more than a little surprised when the girl who used to visit her in the hospital ended up as her cellmate in the Skybox seven years later. Clark’s mother had an important position on the Ark, not only as Chief Medical Officer but also as a member of the Council that ran the Ark. Someone with those kinds of connections can usually find a way out of whatever trouble they got into. Whatever the reason, Thalia decided to see her new cellmate as an opportunity. All juvenile criminals are reviewed when they turned 18 and may be pardoned for their crimes depending on what the Council decided. No one had been pardoned in the last year, but having a friend whose mother is on the council could be useful.

Having spent half her life in the Skybox, Thalia knew almost everything about almost everyone in it. She knew who deserved to be locked up, whose crimes were petty or out of desperation, and who had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time or had angered the wrong people. Being a councilwoman’s daughter, Clarke grew up in a more privileged life than most of the people in lock-up, and of course there were those who resented her for it, and for her connection to the Council that put them there.

So Thalia made it her job to watch out for Clarke against the troublemakers and real criminals in lock-up, a job made easier by the fact that almost everyone in lock-up knew who Thalia was too. She had her own connections within their confined little world. Clarke was nobody’s fool though. She knew why Thalia watched out for her. Even so, the girls had developed a genuine friendship over time until they trusted each other enough to tell each other the real reasons that they had been confined.

Clarke, still lost in her own thoughts, suddenly came to attention when Thalia sat up on her bed, smoothing down her short, spiky black hair, and looked at the door. Clarke didn’t hear anything out of place, but Thalia always seemed to know when something was happening.

 

The cell door swung open and two guards stepped in, one looking like a new recruit whose uniform didn’t quite fit, and the other one older, more experienced. “Prisoners 3-1-8 and 3-1-9 stand up and face the wall.”

Both girls stood, Thalia giving the younger guard a hard glare which made him flinch before facing the wall. The cold look in her electric blue eyes unnerved most people.

“What is this?” Clarke asked.

 

“Quiet. Hold out your right arm,” the older guard ordered.

 

Clarke looked behind them to see the guard taking something out of a metal box. It looked like a metal cuff with needles on the inside of it.

“No,” Clarke said, her light blue eyes shifting between the two guards. “No, it’s not my time. You’re early, neither one of us is 18 yet!”

“Hold out your arm,” the guard ordered again, while his partner drew his shock baton, an electrified baton which was used to subdue prisoners.

“No, just check our files, you’ll see,” Clarke said as the guards come towards them. “You’re early, you’ll see that!”

Clarke was afraid now. Thalia was curious. One thing that was always consistent in the Skybox was the protocol for execution. She had never heard of anyone being executed before their time (unless they’d made a major infraction), and what were the wristbands for. She didn’t know what was happening and one thing Thalia hated was not knowing – it didn’t happen often.

“Take off the watch,” the older guard ordered, moving towards Clarke first with one of the metal cuffs.

“No, it was my father’s!” Clarke drew her hand back protectively and backed away from the guard.

“Take it off,” he ordered impatiently, grabbing her arm.

“No!” Clarke shouted, trying to pull away but the guard did not let go.

Thalia had stayed quiet so far, waiting to find out what was going on, but one thing she hated more than not knowing, was seeing someone hurt her friend.

“Let her go!” Thalia said angrily.

When the guard turned his attention to her she responded with a punch to the throat that left him gasping. The second guard came at them with his shock baton to subdue them. The younger guard was inexperienced, and Clarke was able to grab the arm holding the baton and push it back towards him, the electric jolt dropping him to the floor. Both girls ran through the cell door, slamming it shut behind them.

The Skybox, true to its name, was built like a giant cube with cells along the walls and the center hollow so that when you stepped up to the rail you could see the upper and lower levels. And from what Clarke and Thalia could see, every cell was being opened; all of the prisoners were being ushered out by guards, most of them already outfitted with the metal wristbands.

“What the hell?” Clarke whispered.

* * *

 

In another cell, a young girl sat on her bunk brushing out her hair and singing softly to herself. Iris Glass was also watching her cellmate, who was at the back wall of their cell in a handstand with her legs crossed as if she were sitting, her long hair making a pool of black silk on the floor beneath her. Her cellmate had her eyes closed and had been like that for some time.

 _How does she do that?_ Glass thought, wondering how she had the strength or the patience for it. “My mom does yoga.”

Emily Kane opened her eyes and looked at the upside-down image of her cellmate, who was also one of her best friends. Glass smiled at her and went back to singing. Emily smiled too and closed her eyes again, listening. Glass had a beautiful voice and singing a familiar children’s song, it brought them both back to happier times.

That illusion was shattered by the opening of their cell door. Two guards walked in. “Prisoners 3-1-6 and 3-1-7, stand and face the wall.”

Glass quickly tucked her hair brush into her pocket and stood up. Emily was not as quick to comply. She opened her eyes and said lazily, “Mind if I get dressed first?”

She was wearing only her underwear, but sweat glistened on her skin from the exertion of holding that position for the last hour. Emily smoothly uncrossed her legs and came out of her handstand, gracefully coming to her feet, not the least bit self-conscious. Her muscles moved easily, accustomed to the physical strain.

Emily picked her cloths up from where they were neatly folded on her bunk and casually slipped on her pants, shirt, jacket and boots, pulled her long hair into a ponytail and put her cross necklace around her neck before doing as the guard ordered.

One of the guards opened a case that had some kind of metal bracelets inside, bracelets that had needles in them. Glass looked at Emily, afraid. Were the guards here to kill them? Emily shook her head, no. The Council wouldn’t waste medical resources on killing prisoners with lethal injections – prisoners to be executed were floated, shot out of an airlock into space – and even if they would, it was not their time yet. There was still three weeks to Emily’s birthday, and while she wouldn’t have been too surprised if her father had ordered them to get it over with, Glass didn’t turn eighteen until _next_ year.

“Prisoner 3-1-6, hold out your right arm,” one of the guards ordered Glass.

Glass tensed and took a step back from them. Emily reached over to take her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Glass was not as fragile as she seemed, but she was small and sweet looking with the kind of face that made people want to protect her, including Emily. It wouldn’t protect her from the guards though if she didn’t do what they said. Emily didn’t know what was happening, and she didn’t trust guards. She also wasn’t afraid of them. She could handle herself, but Glass could get hurt. Emily nodded to Glass to do what they said.

Glass held out her arm, still fearful, and the guard closed one of the bracelets over her wrist. “Ow,” Glass said wincing as the needles went into her arm.

Then the guard turned to Emily. “Prisoner 3-1-7, hold out your right arm,” he ordered coming towards her with another bracelet while his partner stood by with a hand on his weapon. In the months that Emily had been in the Skybox she’d earned a reputation among the guards. But she made no move, not even a wince, as the guard closed the bracelet over her wrist and the needles went through her skin.

* * *

 

“Prisoner 3-1-9!” The guard Thalia punched was coming out of the cell behind them, his voice a little horse, but furious. They turned to run when another voice called out.

“Clarke, stop!” Councilwoman Dr. Abigail Griffin.

The guard grabbed Thalia’s arm roughly. Thalia probably could have brought him down again, but with the entire cellblock swarmed with guards there was no point. She let him lead her away. When another guard advanced on Clarke, Dr. Griffin ordered him back, “Wait here.”

“Mom, what’s going on? What is this?” Clarke asked fearfully as her mother embraced her. Looking over her mother’s shoulder Clarke saw the cell next to hers being opened and two girls being led out. They had metal cuffs on their wrists and looked as confused as all the other prisoners. When one of them – a girl with Asian features and strait black hair pulled into a ponytail that fell past her waist – saw Clarke, she tried to pull away from the guard.

“Clarke, what’s happening?” she called out before the guards pulled her in the other direction.

“Emily!” Clarke said, even more fearful now seeing one of her oldest friends being led away. She turned back to her mother. “They’re killing us all aren’t they? Reducing population to make more time for the rest of you.”

“Clarke, listen to me. You are _not_ being executed,” Dr. Griffin said putting her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “You’re being sent to the ground, all one-hundred of you.”

 

“What?” Clarke said stunned. It took her a moment before she continued, “But…it’s not safe. No, w-we get reviewed at eighteen.”

 

“The rules have changed. This gives you a chance to live.” Her mother rubbed her arm trying to comfort her. “Your instincts will tell you to take care of everybody else first, just like your father. But be careful, I can’t lose you too. I love you so much.”

Dr. Griffin rested her hand on her daughter’s cheek. Clarke heard a low pop and felt a sting in her shoulder. One of the guards shot her with a tranqu dart. Her mother held onto her and lowered her to the floor as the drug put her to sleep.

“Earth, Clarke. You get to go to Earth,” said Abby, cradling her daughter in her arms like when she was small, and wishing that she could keep her there always.

* * *

 

 

Thalia was led by a guard to a line of other prisoners going into a hanger bay. Thalia scanned the faces of the prisoners around her, looking for a few faces in particular. She recognized all of them, and the range of expressions they wore varied from fear, through anxiety, confusion, excitement...

At the moment Thalia felt mostly annoyed, at the metal cuff on her wrist and the sting of the needles going into her arm – she hated needles, they reminded her too much of her time in the hospital – and at the guard who still had a vice grip on her arm. It was the same guard that she had punched in the cell.

As the line moved further into the hanger bay the prisoners gasped at the dropship that was waiting to be launched, that they were being led into. There was a commotion in the line ahead as one of the prisoners panicked at the notion of being sent to Earth, a sure death sentence from what they had always been told. Prisoners started pushing, shouting and asking questions all at once. In the moment of chaos Thalia saw another opportunity.

When another prisoner was pushed in to her, she pushed against the guard still standing next to her and they both fell over. When the guard pushed her off she slipped his gun from its holster and tucked it under her shirt. Everyone else was too stirred up to notice, and the guard was busy trying not to get trampled. More guards came forward to control the crowd and get them back into line. Someone else came forward as well.

“Hold on,” said Dr. Griffin as Thalia was being pushed back into the line. “This one is a patient of mine. Give us a minute.”

Dr. Griffin led Thalia away from the crown, out of sight of the guards, before she stopped and pulled a small packet out of her pocket. “I have something for you.”

She opened it slightly to show Thalia what was inside: syringes and vials of medicine. Thalia knew exactly what kind of medicine it was and that she would most likely need it. She also knew that people like her weren’t worth wasting meds on, not to the council.

“You could be arrested for giving me this,” said Thalia. “What do you want for it?”

“I looked at your records Thalia. I know what you were arrested for, and the incidents that have happened while you've been in lock-up.”

“What’s your point?” Thalia asked warily.

“I also know that you and Clarke are friends,” Dr. Griffin said taking Thalia’s left wrist where she wore a simple bracelet with coloured beads on it. Thalia remembered the day she got that bracelet. They were releasing her from the hospital when she was seven saying that she had a clean bill of health as long as she took her meds, which back then were freely available to her. Clarke was with her mother in the hospital that day and gave Thalia her bracelet as a gift. That was the last time Thalia had seen Clarke before they ended up sharing a cell a year ago. Thalia didn't know why she had held onto the bracelet all this time. Maybe because it was one of the only gifts she’d ever gotten.

“This is yours,” Dr. Griffin continued, holding up the med kit, “as long as you promise me one thing.”

“I’m listening,” Thalia said, eyeing the med kit.

“Look after Clarke, watch out for her, keep her safe,” Thalia could see all the worry and pain in Dr. Griffin’s eyes. She was terrified for her daughter, for what Clarke might have to face on Earth, not just from the unfamiliar land but also from the people she was being sent with. To Thalia it just seemed like she was being asked to do more of what she’d been doing for the last year, only for a different prize: Protect someone who could be an asset to her, and play her fellow prisoners to her advantage.

 

“I won’t let anything happen to Clarke,” she told Dr. Griffin. “You have my word.”

Thalia had always been good at choosing friends who were useful to her but this time her choice was made from sympathy – which was not an emotion she was accustomed to feeling – rather than just to get what she wanted. Dr. Griffin knew that Thalia was a lot of things, but she had known her since she was a little girl, and Thalia had never been a liar. She handed Thalia the med kit, knowing that she was giving Clarke the only protection that she could. Thalia put the med kit in the inside pocket of her jacket and followed Dr. Griffin back to the guards.

 

As she was being ushered into the dropship Thalia saw one of the faces she had been looking for: a young man wearing a black uniform – a guard, not a prisoner – Luke Castellan. No guards were being sent with them on this odyssey; there would be no chance to say goodbye. Luke held her gaze for as long as he could until she was led out of sight.

Thalia ended up strapped into a seat next to Clarke who looked like she was just waking up from a tranqu dose. She knew from experience that Clarke would have a headache. Thalia felt her stolen gun press into her back and the weight of the med kit in her pocket. Looking at Clarke, Thalia knew that she would have done whatever she could to protect her even if Dr. Griffin hadn’t paid for it. Clarke was a friend, a real friend. Thalia didn't have too many of those. As the dropship was ejected from the Ark and started to move through space, Thalia fingered the beaded bracelet on her wrist thinking that if they survived, they were going to need all the friends they could get.

* * *

 

 

The first thing Clarke noticed when she woke up was a pounding headache. The second thing she noticed was the ache caused by the needles in her wristband, which only hurt worse when she tried to adjust it.

“Ow,” she said still groggy.

 

“You okay?” Thalia was strapped into the seat next to her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Welcome back,” the voice to her right brought Clarke fully alert, and she turned to face the boy sitting beside her. Wells Jaha was tall, dark and handsome with a muscular build and a soldier’s haircut. And the sight of him made Clarke furious. “Clarke-”

“Wells, why the hell are you here?!”

“When I found out they were sending prisoners to the ground I got myself arrested,” Wells said holding up his wrist to show that he was also wearing a wristband, “I came for you.”

“How sweet,” a sarcastic voice commented. “Looks like the gangs all here.” Clarke looked around Wells and saw her friend Emily Kane in the next seat, and on Emily’s other side was her cellmate Iris, another old friend, who went by her last name Glass.

Just then the dropship shook violently, drawing gasps and a few screams from the nervous passengers. “What was that?” Glass asked tensely.

“That was the atmosphere,” Emily answered.

Monitors on the walls suddenly lit up and an image of the Ark’s Chancellor appeared; a recorded message began playing. “Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You’ve been given a second chance. And as your Chancellor it is my hope that you will see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us. Indeed, for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better we would have sent others. Frankly, we’re sending you because your crimes have made you expendable...”

“They are so full of it,” Emily said bitterly.

“Your dad’s a dick Wells,” a boy somewhere behind them shouted.

“...If, however, you do survive,” Chancellor Jaha’s message continued, “Your crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean. A drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain 300 people for up to two years. No one ever made it there. Because we could spare you no food, water or medicine, I cannot stress strongly enough that Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately...”

Clarke was distracted from the video message by cheering from the other side of the ship.

“Check it out!”

“Yeah, Finn!”

Clarke saw that a boy had unstrapped his harness and was floating in midair above the seats. He did a backflip which propelled him across the dropship and came to rest in front of Clarke’s row.

“Spacewalker strikes again!” Emily said.

“Check it out,” the boy, Finn, said to Wells. “Your dad floated me after all.”

Wells wasn’t amused, “You should strap in before the parachutes deploy.”

“You two, stay put if you want to live!” a black-haired girl sitting in the row across from Clarke shouted to two boys who were starting to unbuckle their harnesses. When the girl glanced around, Clarke saw that she had different coloured eyes, one blue and one green.

“Hey, you’re the terrorist they put in solitary for a year, the child genius,” Finn said to the girl with odd eyes. “Antonia Sinclair, right?”

“And you’re the idiot who wasted three months of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk,” she replied harshly, not bothering to confirm her name.

 “It was fun,” Finn’s tone implied that he thought that was reason enough to do anything. “I’m Finn,” he introduced himself, reaching out his hand while still floating. Antonia ignored him.

Clarke listened to the close of the Chancellor’s message. “…You have one job, one responsibility: stay alive. Finally, I’m sure you're wondering about those wristbands...”

The boys that Antonia had warned were now fully unstrapped and staring to rise above their seats. “Stay in your seats!” she warned them again.

Suddenly the entire dropship jerked hard to the side as it was pulled violently off course, and Finn and the other boys were slammed into the walls, one of them dislodging a bunch of cables that started throwing out sparks.

“That was the parachutes,” said Antonia, who knew the engineering of a dropship, trying to calm those who were panicking.

“Finn, are you okay?!” Clarke shouted, trying to see where Finn had landed behind her. People started screaming as their ride got a whole lot rougher.

“We’re gonna die!” someone cried hysterically. There were more screams and shouts as the loose wiring rained sparks over the prisoners and the ship felt like it was going to shake apart.

“Brace yourselves!” Antonia shouted, “Retro rockets are next, in 3…”

“Clarke, there’s something I have to tell you,” Wells said urgently. “I’m sorry I got your father arrested.”

“Don’t you talk about my father!” said Clarke.

“…2…”

“ _Please_! I can’t die knowing that you hate me,” Wells said desperately.

“They didn’t arrest my father, Wells, they executed him!” Clarke shouted at him, her fury overtaking her fear. “I _do_ hate you!”

“…1!”

The dropship gave another violent lurch that elicited more screams as the retro rockets finally fired, slowing their descent. Passengers clutched at their seats and their neighbors’ hands in the long minutes that followed before the ship hit the ground, shook, shuddered, and finally was still.

* * *

 

 

**On The Ark: Government & Science Station – Earth Monitoring**

Officer Callie “Cece” Kane stood facing a crown of people all demanding answers she wasn’t authorized to give.

“I saw a ship launch, not more than twenty minutes ago!”

“Who was on it?”

“Was it the prisoners? They’re just kids!”

 

“Are they going to Earth?” a woman pushing her way to the front of the crowd asked. “Did something change?”

 

Cece addressed the crowd, “Folks, as I said, at this time we cannot confirm or deny anything.” Then she turned away and walked down the hall, leaving the guards to restrain the crowd as they kept on hurling questions at her back.

“Come on lady!”

“What’s going on?”

“Is my son on that ship?!”

Cece kept walking until she reached the Earth Monitoring Control Room. She walked in and headed towards her husband, Vice Chancellor Marcus Kane, second in command on the Ark, to give him a report on the situation outside.

“Not now,” he said as he walked passed her to speak to the Engineering Chief, Mr. Jacapo Sinclair.

“Total system failure,” Sinclair said, “that’s what we’re looking at. All we know for sure is that they were off course when we lost contact so...”

“Tell me about communications,” Kane interrupted.

“Other than the telemetry from those wristbands, we’ve got nothing. No audio, no video, no computer link. Everything that we programmed in to help them is gone,” Sinclair explained urgently. “They’re on their own now.”

* * *

 

Silence – that was the first thing that registered as the dropship’s passengers came out of their state of shock. One boy spoke up in an awed voice, “Listen, no machine hum.”

“Whoa. That’s a first,” his friend next to him said.

“We’re on the ground…” Glass whispered shakily.

“Iris, retract the claws please,” Emily said calmly.

Glass’ hand was clutching Emily’s arm, her nails digging in hard enough to leave a mark. She quickly let go. “Sorry.”

The ship gave one final shudder as everything settled into place. The sound of a seatbelt being unbuckled snapped them out of it, and then they were all unstrapping themselves and looking for a way out. Clarke unstrapped herself and put a hand on Thalia’s arm. Thalia had her eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. She looked pale. Clarke knew that this was the beginning of a crash she went into right after a high adrenaline rush.

“Hey, look at me.” Thalia opened her eyes and focused on Clarke. “Are you okay?”

“I-” Thalia swallowed and unstrapped herself. “I’m fine.”

Clarke looked around and saw that Finn was already moving. He was kneeling next to one of the boys who had been unstrapped when the ship landed. Clarke rushed over to the other boy. She checked for a pulse but found none.

“Finn is he breathing?” she asked. Finn looked at her and shook his head.

“The outer door is on the lower level. Let’s go!” someone shouted.

“No, we can’t just open the doors!” Clarke said urgently moving towards the hatch that led to the lower level. Thalia got up and followed right behind her. As they climbed down the ladder to the first level of the dropship, the heard a crowd already formed pushing towards the door.

“Hey, just back it up guys,” an unfamiliar voice said.

Thalia looked down and saw a tall, older boy with dark, slicked back hair motioning the people to step back while he reached for the lever that would release the door. She didn’t recognize him.

“Stop!” Clarke shouted over the crowd, already at the bottom of the ladder. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “The air could be toxic!”

“If the air’s toxic, we’re all dead anyway,” the boy said reaching for the lever.

_I’m waking up to ash and dust. I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust_

_I’m breathing in the chemicals…Ahhh_

“Bellamy?” A soft voice near the back of the room stopped him.

 

The voice came from a pretty brunette girl who was just coming down one of the ladders from the second level. She came to the bottom of the ladder and moved through the crowd until she stood in front of the older boy, Bellamy. The look on her face said that this was someone she thought she would never see again. This girl was someone that Thalia recognized, and hearing her say the boy’s name Thalia stared, realizing who he was. She’d never spoken to the girl – never had a reason to – but her story was one that everyone knew, at least in part.

 

“That’s the girl they hid under the floor,” someone whispered loudly.

“My God, look how big you are,” said Bellamy. She hugged him, and then pulled back to get a good look at him back.

“What the hell are you wearing? A guard’s uniform?” she asked.

“I borrowed it, to get on the dropship. Someone’s got to keep an eye on you,” he said smiling, and then he hugged her again.

“Where’s your wristband?” Clarke asked, seeing that he wasn’t wearing one.

“Do you mind?” the girl said turning to Clarke, annoyed. “I haven’t seen my brother in a year!”

“No one has a brother!” a boy in the crowd exclaimed.

“You’re Octavia Blake! The girl they found hidden in the floor,” said a girl with grey eyes and honey blond hair standing near the front of the crowd.

Octavia looked at her, and lunged forward looking ready to claw her eyes out. The blonde girl didn’t flinch, just looked at Octavia sizing her up and decided she wasn’t a threat either way.

“Octavia, no!” Bellamy said, holding her back. “Let’s give them something else to remember you by.”

“Yeah, like what?” Octavia asked, still angry.

The girl she tried to attack stepped forward before Bellamy could answer, “Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years.”

Octavia looked at her, and then turned back to Bellamy, smiling too. He nodded and reached again for the lever, pulling it down. There was a hiss of air as the door released, and then bright light as it opened before them making a ramp to the ground.

_I breaking in, shaping up, and checking out on the prison bus._

_This is it, the apocalypse…Whoa!_

Octavia blinked, letting her eyes adjust, and stared in wonder at what was in front of them. Beautiful woodland filled up the space they could see from inside the ship. Trees everywhere, with moss growing on the bark, grass carpeting the ground; everything was so green and bright, so alive. Octavia took her first steps forward, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air for the first time. Even the air felt alive!

She reached the bottom of the ramp and paused before taking the last step, onto the ground. She looked back at Bellamy, who was holding his arm out to stop others from following her just yet and smiling at the look of sheer joy on his little sister’s face. Everyone else was frozen, watching her. This moment was hers.

Octavia walked a few feet from the dropship and looked around. There were trees all around them as far as she could see. She looked up to see the sunlight streaming through the tree tops and felt the kind of warmth that no one on the Ark had ever felt before.

She raised her hands toward the sun and shouted as loud as she could, “We’re Back Bitches!!!”

_I’m waking up! I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow!_

_Welcome to the new age, to the new age_

With that, the spell was broken. Everyone surged forward through the door of the ship like a river let loose, shouting, cheering and running in every direction, avoiding the smoking trees that had been felled by their landing. Bellamy came up to Octavia and gave her a one-armed hug before being swept away by the flow of 100 prisoners rushing to freedom. Before she could follow him, she felt a hand on her arm and turned to see the girl she almost had a confrontation with earlier.

“Nice announcement,” she said with a laugh. “I’m Annabeth. Come on, let’s check this place out.” And she and Octavia went running off to the trees, their hostilities from a few moments ago forgotten.

Clarke jumper off the side of the ramp and stared at what was around her in awe. Her friends Emily and Glass came out after her, as intoxicated as everyone else.

“Clarke, we made it! We’re here!” Emily said bouncing on her feet as though she couldn’t stay still, more animated than Clarke had seen her in a long time. Emily took Glass’s hand and led her off to the trees. Glass’ flowing blond hair was flying in every direction as she kept turning her head, trying to take in everything at once.

_Welcome to the new age, to the new age!_

_  
_

Their excitement was infectious, but Clarke held back from following them. Instead she turned to check on Thalia who had come out and was leaning against the side of the dropship looking around in wonder, but making no move to join the celebrations.

“You sure you’re okay?” Clarke asked. Thalia nodded, but Clarke was still worried. “You should sit down for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

* * *

 

 

“Emily!” Glass called out, trying to keep up with her friend. “Emily, wait!”

Glass got no response and slowed to a stop, unable to keep up – and not wanting to go too far from the ship – as her friend ran on ahead showing no sign of stopping.

“Glass, what happened?” Wells came running up behind her, hearing her shouting. “Where’s Emily?”

“I don’t know,” Glass said, running a hand through her hair. “She just took off running.”

Wells didn’t bother asking why; it seemed like something Emily would do. “Which way did she go?”

“That way,” said Glass, pointing out the direction that Emily had gone in.

“Stay here, I’ll get her,” Wells said and started running in the direction that Glass indicated.

“Good luck,” Glass said laughing softly. He’d need it to catch Emily if she didn’t want to stop.

Wells wasn’t really worried about Emily, she could take care of herself. But she could also be reckless, and down here there was nobody to stop her if she got carried away. So he ran after her. Emily was fast but so was he, and he could already see her up ahead.

Emily loved the feeling of being able to run, of being able to do something, _anything_ physical after being in a cell for ten long months. Her mind took in every sensation as she moved, as Glass’ voice and the noise of the other prisoners fell away behind her. The woods closed around her and she felt the air rushing over her face and through her hair as it trailed behind her, heard the rustling of the bushes she brushed past, and felt the leaves, twigs and stones that crunched and clattered under her boots.

More than that, she felt her blood pumping, her breath moving easily through her lungs, her muscles working, not the least bit fatigued. She hadn’t lost her edge. When she’d done exercises in their cell to stay in shape, like holding a difficult position for hours, Glass had asked her before how she had the patience for it. Emily could be very patient. She knew how to wait and be still and quiet, but honestly, she _really_ didn’t like to. She wanted to be moving. Being in the Skybox without access to any of the activities that were her usual outlet, Emily had a lot of tension to run off and she fully intended to.

But apparently, she wouldn’t get to right now as she heard someone coming up behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that it was Wells, though she could have guessed that. He was the only one who would have come after her _and_ was fast enough to. Emily was tempted to quicken her pace to see if she could outrun him – she and Wells had often been competitive with each other growing up – but maybe now wasn’t the time. Wells caught up to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop.

“What?!” Emily exclaimed, spinning around to face him. Her irritation didn’t last though, “Wells, can you believe that this is actually happening?”

“You should be careful,” said Wells, predictably trying to be the responsible one. “We don’t know this place, it could be dangerous. We could get lost.”

“Wells, stop being such a kill joy,” she said, brushing off his concern. “After 97 years, _we_ are the first to come down from the Ark. Look around,” she said, spreading her arms to take in the whole forest. “This, us being here, is _amazing_. Not to mention the fact that we survived the trip down to begin with.” She looked at him knowingly; they’d always dreamed of coming to Earth, never believing that they actually would. “Don’t tell me you’re not excited.”

_I raise my flags, don my clothes, it’s a revolution I suppose_

_We’ll paint it red to fit right in…Whoa!_

Wells took a moment to look around. It was beautiful here. And Emily was right, just the fact that they were here, alive on Earth, was amazing. “Okay, you’re right, it is exciting,” Wells said nodding, unable to contain a grin. Emily laughed. “But could we _please_ be excited back in that direction?” he asked pointing back the way they had come, towards the dropship.

“Fine,” said Emily, smiling impishly, “I’ll race you back.” And she took off running with Wells close behind her, eager to see who would win.

 

* * *

 

Clarke walked away from the dropship, but instead of joining the festive atmosphere under the trees, she walked towards a ravine that gave her a view of the landscape. She unrolled a map that she found in the dropship and compared it to what she saw now. Mount Weather was marked on the map in red and if Clarke was reading the map correctly, they weren’t on it.

“Why so serious, Princess?” Finn said, coming up behind her. “It’s not like we died in a fiery explosion.”

“Try telling that to the two guys who tried to follow you out of their seats,” Clarke said, still reading the map.

“You don’t like to be called ‘Princess’, do you Princess?”

“You see that peak over there?” Clarke asked impatiently, pointing to a mountain in the distance on the other side of the ridge.

“Yeah?”

“Mount Weather,” Clarke explained. “There’s a radiation soaked forest between us and our next meal. They dropped us on the wrong damn mountain!”

 

_Woaaahh…Woaaahh…I’m Radioactive, Radioactive!_

 


End file.
